Helpless II

While we were at the Maphiveni Christmas party, I received a call from one of our new teachers at the Fonteyn CarePoint in Mbabane. He was extremely upset, and said that one of the children had swallowed a metal object and was choking. I asked him if she was breathing and if he remembered the Heimleck maneuver that I had just taught them in class last week. She was breathing, but could not speak. He said that he did remember, but she was lying on the ground face down. I instructed him to stand her up if she was still conscious and try the maneuver. At that point I went to be alone and pray. I asked the Lord to please save her and not to let her die. I then called an ambulance to go to the CarePoint. The next call I received was good news! Praise the Lord! The metal object was out! He said that he couldn’t get her up off the ground, so he did back blows like we learned to do with babies, and it worked, the object came flying out of her mouth! I asked if she was ok and he said that she was crying because she was afraid, but she was fine otherwise.

God’s timing is perfect! This teacher was amazed that he had just learned about choking and was then able to use this knowledge for this situation. God is so good! I give Him all the praise, honor, and glory, for He has done great things! Amen!

We had a clinic today (20-Dec-07) at Mangwaneni in Manzini. We were trying to target the children, but they were bringing adults also. A woman came in leading a young man up to the chair. He could barely walk, from weakness and was going blind, as well. I knew what I was I was dealing with when they told me that he had only been this way for a month. I asked if he had been tested for HIV and they said yes and that his CD4 count was only 94. I asked why he wasn’t on ARV’s and they said that the place that they took him wouldn’t start him until he had a chest x-ray to check for TB. They said that they were charging R98 for the x-ray, and they didn’t have money to get it. I told them that they needed to get him to the government hospital as soon as possible to get him started on ARV’s. At that point I felt very helpless again. There was nothing I could do for him except give him some vitamins and some oral rehydration salts to help with the diarrhea. I pray that it is not too late for him to get the help that he so desperately needs.